The winner of the Tory leadership contest will be announced at lunchtime today as Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak finally discover which one of them will replace Boris Johnson in No 10.
The long-running battle to be the next prime minister will draw to a close at approximately 12.30pm, with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, due to announce the winner at an event in central London.
The winner of the contest is then expected to deliver a short speech, with Ms Truss and Mr Sunak due to be told who has won ten minutes in advance.
Ms Truss is viewed as the overwhelming favourite in the leadership election and a victory for Mr Sunak would stun Westminster.
Once the announcement has been made, the winner will then spend the afternoon and evening finalising their choices for their Cabinet and wider ministerial roles before formally becoming PM tomorrow.
Follow the latest updates below.
07:38 AM
‘They could do a lot worse than U-turn’
Liz Truss is considering freezing energy bills for millions of households this winter if she wins the Conservative Party leadership race, the Telegraph understands (you can read the full story here).
Such a move would be welcomed by Labour which has already called for the cap on energy bills to be frozen.
Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, said this morning that Ms Truss should have already set out in detail how she intends to help struggling families.
He told BBC Breakfast: “It’s extraordinary that one of them will walk into Downing Street today with no idea what they’re going to do to help people. Now Labour’s winning the battle of ideas here, Labour’s come up with a fully-costed plan.
“They could do a lot worse than U-turn on what they’ve said in refusing help to families and look at what we’ve proposed and adopt it, as they have many times this year.”
07:33 AM
Next Cabinet must be ‘broadly based’
Mark Harper, the Tory former chief whip and a supporter of Rishi Sunak, has said the winner of the leadership contest must appoint a “broadly based Cabinet” in order to get through what promises to be a rocky period in British politics in the months ahead.
Mr Harper was told during an interview on Times Radio that some of Liz Truss’s supporters have been highly critical of Mr Sunak and his record as chancellor.
Asked if he believes it will be hard to unite the Conservative Party after the contest, Mr Harper said: “We have a democratic process here, party members will have made a decision… it is important for all Conservatives to get behind the new prime minister.”
Mr Harper said the key to unifying the Tories will be appointing a “broadly based Cabinet that covers all wings of the party”.
07:24 AM
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to today’s politics live blog.
It promises to be a truly momentous day in Westminster, with the winner of the Tory leadership contest due to be announced at 12.30pm.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will finally discover which one of them will take over from Boris Johnson after what has been a lengthy and bruising battle between the pair.
The winner will then need to finalise their Cabinet plans before formally becoming PM tomorrow.
I will be on hand throughout this week to guide you through the key developments.
